Chapter 3 - The Star on the Neck"Don't move!" a harsh, familiar voice shouted from the hallway!
Matteo squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in Alessandro’s neck. Alessandro didn't flinch. He turned slowly, keeping his body positioned between his son and the doorway.
Stepping into the room with a drawn firearm was Franco Vane—Alessandro’s chief of security and his most trusted lieutenant for fifteen years.
On the left side of Franco’s neck, visible above his leather collar, was the dark ink of a star tattoo.
Behind Franco stood four heavily armed men—all members of the Moretti estate's personal security detail.
Alessandro stood motionless, holding his five-year-old son, his expression completely blank.
"Franco," Alessandro said quietly. "I wondered who was taking my money and selling my blood."
Franco’s hand trembled slightly on his weapon, but a cold, desperate sneer spread across his face. "You shouldn't have come to the Bronx yourself, Alessandro. You were supposed to stay in your mansion on Long Island, brooding over missing posters until your corporate rivals stripped your empire clean."
"You took my wife and my son," Alessandro said, his tone shockingly calm given the lethal aura radiating from him. "Why?"
"Because you became soft!" Franco spat out bitterly. "Ever since Mateo was born, you stopped expanding! You turned down the narcotics routes from Florida! You refused to take over the waterfront docks because you wanted 'clean investments' for your heir!"
Franco took a step closer, gesturing with his gun. "Your brother, Marco, saw what you were doing to the family business. He paid me ten million dollars to remove your legacy."
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed. "Marco?"
"Your own brother," Elena sobbed from the corner. "Marco came to the house the night you were in Chicago, Alessandro! He told me you were killed in an ambush! He said if I didn't take Mateo and disappear into this basement forever, his men would execute Mateo in front of me!"
The entire picture clicked into place with horrifying clarity.
Marco—Alessandro’s younger, power-hungry brother—had staged the disappearance to break Alessandro’s spirit. He knew that an Alessandro grieving for a missing child would be distracted, weak, and vulnerable to a corporate takeover from within the family council.
And Franco had been Marco’s inside man, managing the hidden basement, delivering supplies, and ensuring Elena and Mateo remained hidden out of sight.
"It was a brilliant plan, boss," Franco chuckled darkly. "In two weeks, Marco was going to invoke the family emergency clause to strip you of your CEO title and take over Moretti Holdings. And then... we were going to clean up this basement permanently."
Franco raised his gun, pointing it straight at Alessandro’s chest.
"Regrettably," Franco sneered, "a barefoot little girl ruined the timeline. Goodbye, Don Alessandro."
Franco pulled the trigger.
CLICK.
Nothing happened.
Franco blinked in confusion, pulling the trigger two more times!
CLICK. CLICK.
"Looking for these?" a deep voice called out from the hallway.
Luca stepped out from the shadows behind Franco, holding a handful of brass firing pins he had quietly removed from the bodyguards' weapons during the setup outside.
Before Franco could react, Alessandro drew his sidearm with lightning speed!
THWACK!
A single suppressed shot echoed through the small room.
Franco dropped to his knees, screaming in agony as a bullet shattered his right shoulder! His weapon clattered uselessly onto the concrete floor.
Alessandro’s remaining bodyguards swarmed the room, instantly tackling Franco’s four accomplices to the ground and pinning them down with heavy boots.
Alessandro walked over, standing tall above Franco, who lay groaning in a pool of his own blood.
"You made two mistakes, Franco," Alessandro said softly, looking down at his former chief of security with total contempt.
"What... what mistakes?" Franco gasped, clutching his shattered shoulder.
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"First, you assumed my grief made me weak," Alessandro said. "Second... you forgot that every man in New York knows my face except the ones you paid to stand guard."
Alessandro looked back at Luca. "Pack Franco and his men into the van. Bring them to the warehouse in Brooklyn. I have a meeting with my brother at dawn."
